CALIFORNIA DREAMING –

Nov. 2, 2023 – Gov. Gavin Newsom last month signed SB 43, which broadens eligibility for both conservatorships and shorter-term involuntary holds in hospitals to include people whose addiction challenges threaten their own safety and access to necessities including medical care. 

The law, part of a broader effort by Newsom and others to reform the state’s behavioral health system, is likely to put more pressure on a local system now unable to meet the need. 

While much of the rhetoric around SB 43 implied longer-term conservatorships, San Diego County’s behavioral health director and others predict the law’s most dramatic initial impact will be a spike in instances where police bring people struggling with addiction to hospitals on short-term holds. 

READ@VocieofSanDiego